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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spell — letters
  3. clip — a video
  4. face — to confront
  5. bore — to drill
  6. plane — a tool
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — to cut
  9. spell — a short time
  10. mate — a partner
  11. face — to point toward
  12. bore — to tire
  13. chest — of your body
  14. press — a publisher
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. face — part of the head
  17. press — to push
  18. mate — to breed
  19. chest — a box
  20. spell — magic
  21. mate — a friend
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. press — newspapers

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com